Last updated 05/11/2007
EDUCATION - FURTHER EDUCATION
Balls launches first diplomas to rival A-levels and GCSEs
The Guardian
24/10/2007
The new qualifications are to be taught from next September and their success could see A-Levels scrapped after a 2013 review.
LSC and RIBA launch website to offer guidance on college building design
LSC
30/10/2007
The LSC, in association with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), has launched a website to advise the Further Education sector on the design of its colleges and offer guidance to those colleges embarking on major capital projects and their consultants. It provides information on both the process and the design elements of a capital project and provides colleges with examples of best practice.
http://designguidance.lsc.gov.uk/
Quango announces first-year results
The Guardian
26/10/2007
The Quality Improvement Agency (QIA), set up by the government to "streamline" efforts to raise the game across further education, has announced a saving of £23m in its first year of operations.
EDUCATION - HIGHER EDUCATION
Call to spell out Christian ethos
The Times Higher Education Supplement
19/10/2007
Universities with Church of England foundations have been told to emphasise their Christian ethos in employment contracts to make it easier to dismiss staff who do not adhere to the institutions values.
East meets west in the 'global classroom'
The Guardian
24/10/2007
The UK's first Malaysian university opened its doors this month on London's Piccadilly. Its founder, Dr Lim Kok Wing, is a former advertising man who wants to globalise higher education.
Examinations may be abolished
The Birmingham Post
19/10/2007
The University of Gloucestershire is considering plans to abolish all exams for first year students and assess undergraduates through podcasts and DVDs instead.
'Inherently frail' - the verdict on marking
The Times Higher Education Supplement
26/10/2007
Call for debate as lack of consistency in assessment attracts warning of student litigation. Lecturers' marking of student work is "inherently frail" and assessment procedures would struggle to stand up to legal challenge, academics warned this week.
'Pay more towards pensions'', university staff told
The Guardian
18/10/2007
Universities believe staff should share more of the cost and risk of pension schemes, according to a new report.
University employers draw up national pay code
The guardian
25/10/2007
The employers' body that negotiates university staff pay is drawing up two "codes" aimed at making pay negotiations clearer and easier to deal with.
When plagiarism is academic
The Guardian
30/10/2007
Universities pursue plagiarising students, but no one knows how big a problem it is among staff.
EDUCATION - SCHOOLS
Angry staff picket academies launch
The Times Educational Supplement
12/10/2007
Ministers' drive to persuade universities to sponsor academies got off to an embarrassing start as the university staff who will be expected to make the scheme work threatened industrial action.
Building up a surplus
The Guardian
30/10/2007
The government seems hell-bent on setting up new schools. Do we really need them?
Private schools prepare to face tests on keeping their charity tax breaks
The Guardian
29/10/2007
Bursaries and classes for local students will be demanded in guidance setting out what private schools will have to do to satisfy a public benefit test and the Charity Commission says the rules are likely to be in force next year.
Schools warned off Microsoft deal
BBC Education News
26/10/2007
The UK computer agency Becta is advising schools not to sign licensing agreements with Microsoft because of alleged anti-competitive practices. The government agency has complained to the Office of Fair trading.
Stop academy sponsor deals, say MPs
The Times Educational Supplement
19/10/2007
An influential parliamentary spending watchdog has told the Government to stop allowing academies to pay their sponsors for work not put out to competitive tender. The Public Accounts Committee has also recommended that academies should collaborate with neighbouring schools and called for ministers to reject any new academy plans that threaten the viability of existing state education.
